MYOB urges small to medium businesses to comply before July

11 Jun 2015

With less than a month to go until the end of financial year (EOFY),
MYOB is urging small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to ensure they’re
SuperStream compliant to avoid scrutiny from the ATO and subsequent
financial penalties and prosecution.

Businesses with less than twenty employees have a SuperStream
compliance deadline of 1 July 2016 but employers can start paying
electronically now. All MYOB payroll customers with a subscription
will have access to a free SuperStream certified solution.

SuperStream is the program aimed at improving the processing of
everyday superannuation transactions introduced by the Government.
Under the scheme, businesses with more than 20 employees must have
transitioned to and be submitting payments and superannuation data
electronically by 1 July 2015. While the ATO announced on Tuesday
[LL1] that they would not take any non-compliance action against
larger employers for four months until 31 October, they did also state
that this was as long as they were making genuine attempts to comply.

James Scollay, General Manager SME Solutions, MYOB says that
SuperStream awareness amongst SMEs is still low.

“We have made it simple for MYOB customers to get compliant and the
feedback has been really positive but we are still concerned about the
overall lack of awareness amongst SMEs

“Employers need to know that SuperStream is not just a nice-to-have
solution, it will be a mandatory requirement. Business owners still
have time to upgrade to a certified service and to ensure they have
all the additional information needed from their employees to comply,”
Scollay says.

Earlier this year, MYOB was the first accounting software provider
to achieve cross-certification from the Australian Tax Office for its
integrated superannuation payment and reporting feature in its
AccountRight SME accounting solution.

Karel Huismann, Manager and owner of Fedele’s Ristorante in Glen
Waverley, Melbourne, is already complying with the Government’s new
SuperStream requirements after updating to the latest version of MYOB
AccountRight. Mr Huismann says he’s experiencing greater benefits than
simply knowing that the business is already compliant.

“Before using MYOB, we were spending about 15 to 20 hours on the
books in any normal week, not to mention countless extra hours at tax
time. Now we spend about a quarter of the time – at most five hours
per week.

“The benefits of using the PaySuper functionality in AccountRight
include not having to worry about manual calculation errors and
knowing that we are fully compliant.

We’re already contributing through SuperStream so when the
Government’s mandatory changes come into effect, we won’t notice any
disruption to our business at all,” Mr Huismann says.

MYOB has consolidated all resources that SMEs may need to get them
ready for the end of financial year in one centralised ‘2015 End of
Financial Year Hub’. There they will find information about
SuperStream, tips on planning for end-of-year, payroll guides and more.

About MYOB

Established in 1991, MYOB is Australia’s leading accounting software
provider. It makes life easier for approx. 1.2 million businesses
across Australia and New Zealand by simplifying accounting, payroll,
tax, CRM, websites, job costing, practice management, inventory,
mobile payments and more. MYOB also provides ongoing client support
via many channels including a network of over 40,000 accountants,
bookkeepers and other consultants. It is committed to ongoing
innovation, particularly in cloud computing solutions, and spends more
than AU$35 million annually on research and development. For more
information, visit myob.com.au.

About the MYOB Business Monitor

The MYOB Business Monitor is a national survey of over 1000
Australian business owners (and directors) and is conducted twice
yearly by Colmar Brunton.

Key indicators presented are:

Perceptions of current and future performance of business in
Australia

Perceptions of the outlook for the Australian
economy

Perceptions of Federal and State Government support
for business in Australia